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Interim Police Chief Paul Schultz: COMPSTAT an effective tool

New computerized system helps track crime activity

By RACHEL ALEXANDER alexanderr@ canoncitydailyrecord.com

Posted:
02/27/2013 09:18:35 PM MST

Interim Police Chief Paul Schultz

A few months after implementing the new computerized statistics system -- COMPSTAT -- the Cañon City Police Department met with representatives Wednesday from other Fremont County law enforcement agencies for the first of what is expected to be regular meetings about the results of the program.

Interim Police Chief Paul Schultz said the meeting was a chance for the various agencies to discuss crime statistics, crime trends, recent arrests and frequent offenders.

"We're hoping to do this once a month," Schultz said. "We're excited about it."

At the meeting were representatives from Florence Police Department, Fremont County Sheriff's Office, probation, parole, Department of Correction and Department of Human Services.

Schultz said the COMPSTAT system, which provides mapping and tracking of crime activity in the city, has been proved as an effective tool across the country.

"We started developing it a couple months ago," he said. "There's a tremendous amount of information being exchanged. We're getting a much clearer picture."

The crime mapping software utilizes GPS maps of the community to track crime location data. Supervisors are able to graphically see where crime is occurring and adjust the department's response accordingly. Schultz said he believes the result will be a reduced crime rate.